Speyducer
Advisory Board
Release to spawn another day
Posts: 4,123
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Post by Speyducer on Jul 9, 2012 21:59:04 GMT
Just back.....but one question left How big do you think it is? Mike
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conwyrod
Advisory Board
Autumn on the Conwy
Posts: 4,659
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Post by conwyrod on Jul 9, 2012 22:08:38 GMT
A whopper Mike.......................must be 40lb?
Details of how you caught it and the fight would be of interest!
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salmo
Advisory Board
Posts: 1,814
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Post by salmo on Jul 9, 2012 22:28:45 GMT
Superb looking fish Mike..beautiful fish on a beautiful river.
Difficult to judge the length and girth but guessing that it is 44" long and reasonably fresh howz about 34 - 36 lbs? In other words "feckin' huge"
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Post by G Ritchie on Jul 9, 2012 22:37:22 GMT
Cracking fish Mike, it is very deep so could easily be 40lb.
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Speyducer
Advisory Board
Release to spawn another day
Posts: 4,123
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Post by Speyducer on Jul 9, 2012 23:10:37 GMT
classic pool - 14' #9/10 rod; skagit 720; 15' T17; 4' of 20lb Yo Zuri leader & a 4" unweighted 'U-Tube' in black/blue with plenty mixed flash & chartreuse hackle collar - single barbless 2/0 hook.
Got a 16lb steelhead out of the same pool a couple of days earlier, then another morning, hooked up with 5 decent to large fish, but unpinned 4 of them, and one large chinook bust the leader after smashing on top of it.
This one took a solid slam of a take, and immediately took off to near the bottom of the pool, down to & well into the backing, but fortunately stopped short of the powerful tailout (where it would be impossible to get the fish back from without an immediately available jetboat to jump into & follow the fish). Thereafter, it was a 15-20 minutes of tug of war in 8-10 feet of water, and the fish only budged when it wanted to.
Justin, the guide who did come 1km down river to help me out, did eventually net the fish, otherwise I'd still be trying to persuade the fish to nose up over into the shallower bouldered edge.
There had been a similar large fish (somewhat fresher & meaner!) which had caused "CTF" (aka catastrophic tackle failure) in the next pool up by John P in the early morning.
This one had been in the river about a week, and had started to change from fresh chrome to gunmetal colour, and has been the biggest fish landed at the lodge over last season & this one so far.
Kiss & return practiced!
More pics, the rest of the trip report & other fish to follow....
Mike
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Post by olsonreels on Jul 9, 2012 23:31:11 GMT
Judging from the camera angle, the size of the guides hands in relation to the tail wrist and finger distance the anal fin, both of your hands to the pec fins and jaw structure...
28#-30# is my guess based on the photo on Dana's site.
This photo makes it look over 40....
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dunkeld
Active Member
Tay Springer April 2010
Posts: 2,946
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Post by dunkeld on Jul 10, 2012 5:16:00 GMT
42lb
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Post by lordoftheflies on Jul 10, 2012 6:00:07 GMT
Looking forward to the rest of the pictures Mike....beauty of a fish....39lbs.
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fredo
Active Member
Posts: 1,095
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Post by fredo on Jul 10, 2012 7:01:18 GMT
I think the fish is well over 40lbs. Even if it was "just" 30lbs, it would have been some scrap in that pool!
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Tyne Andrew
Active Member
April Spring Salmon 2010 - Lower Pitchroy, River Spey
Posts: 1,104
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Post by Tyne Andrew on Jul 10, 2012 7:33:00 GMT
Could easily be 50
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hf
Active Member
Posts: 1,807
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Post by hf on Jul 10, 2012 7:42:09 GMT
Some fish Mike! Got to be 48lb at least.
Well done.
hf
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troot
Active Member
Posts: 329
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Post by troot on Jul 10, 2012 8:12:47 GMT
51lb
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Post by allysshrimp on Jul 10, 2012 14:29:16 GMT
Thats a cracker Mike.
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Post by builnacraig on Jul 10, 2012 16:29:30 GMT
What a fish, must be well into the 40's. From what I have seen these fish have huge depth and girth compared to atlantics.
BnC
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conwyrod
Advisory Board
Autumn on the Conwy
Posts: 4,659
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Post by conwyrod on Jul 10, 2012 18:29:26 GMT
The Dean River seems to have many attractive features: ;D
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Tyne Andrew
Active Member
April Spring Salmon 2010 - Lower Pitchroy, River Spey
Posts: 1,104
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Post by Tyne Andrew on Jul 11, 2012 9:14:32 GMT
The suspense is killing me - how big was the brute Mike? Congratulations too btw
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Speyducer
Advisory Board
Release to spawn another day
Posts: 4,123
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Post by Speyducer on Jul 11, 2012 11:05:16 GMT
The suspense is killing me - how big was the brute Mike? Congratulations too btw The fish wasn't weighed, but the experienced guide, on seeing the fish in the net, and confirmed when handling it for the few pictures & short video, felt that the fish was close to 40lbs. After discussions with some experienced rods, the consensus was that the fish was at least 35lbs, and most likely nearer 40 than 35. Nevertheless, this has been the largest, and strongest, freshwater beastie I have managed to land to date, and on the fly! This was one of eight fish beached to my own rod for the week, including another 30lber! We will be going back next year for even more punishment!! Mike
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Tyne Andrew
Active Member
April Spring Salmon 2010 - Lower Pitchroy, River Spey
Posts: 1,104
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Post by Tyne Andrew on Jul 11, 2012 12:27:55 GMT
Thanks Mike, sounds great! You won't forget that experience in a hurry
TA
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Post by Sagecaster on Jul 11, 2012 13:34:32 GMT
Well Done, an astonishing quality fish!
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salmo
Advisory Board
Posts: 1,814
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Post by salmo on Jul 12, 2012 12:56:03 GMT
The fish wasn't weighed, but the experienced guide, on seeing the fish in the net, and confirmed when handling it for the few pictures & short video, felt that the fish was close to 40lbs. After discussions with some experienced rods, the consensus was that the fish was at least 35lbs, and most likely nearer 40 than 35. Nevertheless, this has been the largest, and strongest, freshwater beastie I have managed to land to date, and on the fly! This was one of eight fish beached to my own rod for the week, including another 30lber! We will be going back next year for even more punishment!! Mike Sounds like a truly amazing week and getting a fish that size in safely on the fly is no mean feat. Well done again Mike, keep sending the photos ;D ;D ;D
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